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July 26, 2004
Lots of News
I kind of hate it when I don't update over an entire weekend, there is always so much to write about on Monday. I usually have three runs and all kinds of other stuff going on. This weekend was no exception.
Friday ended up being a pretty late night. M. and I drove to Cheyenne, Wyoming, to see George Strait play at Frontier Days. Frontier Days is a huge rodeo and is basically the only reason to ever go to Cheyenne. It was freezing cold, believe it or not, and it had been raining on and off all day, so it was COLD and MUDDY. But George Strait is such a great performer that it didn't really matter. Aside from the concert we didn't see much of Frontier Days aside from booths of fried food and a little fair. Because of the two hour drive home and a few detours, we didn't get home until 1:30 am, so I didn't go to practice on Saturday morning.
I woke up around 8:30 and did a slightly modified version of the workout I was supposed to do with my team. I ran from M.'s house, which is almost three miles from Wash Park where I did the workout - which was a combination of a 20 minute tempo run and a short fartlek - so I believe I ran 11 miles all told. I was pleased with the total mileage and proud that I completed the workout, because it was hard and I was feeling spent after the tempo run portion. Overall it was a good workout and although I felt bad about ditching practice, especially since I can't go this coming Saturday, it was for the best.
On Saturday the weather was cold and cloudy again, which is totally odd for July. We decided that the only thing to do was go to the movies. So we went to see two movies - Spider Man 2 and The Bourne Supremacy. I would definitely recommend doing this from time to time. The Bourne Supremacy was way better, I would recommend it really highly. Afterwards M. had a migraine and I was sleepy so we took a nap at 6:00 and didn't wake up until the next morning. I must have needed that.
Sunday morning I had to do a long run. I had been doing most of my long runs with my friend K. up in Boulder, and this weekend I just couldn't handle driving to Boulder, so I ran 14 miles on the Highline Canal trail. This trail goes through all of Denver so it is nice because you can run as far as you want on dirt. In addition, it has mile markers which I like, because I really like knowing exactly how far I've gone. I ran the first mile at about 9:30 pace and then every mile after that was well under 9:00 pace. It was weird, I didn't feel like I was going that fast and I kept telling myself to slow down because I was worried that the last three or four miles would be hell. I finished the run in 1:57, which I calculated this morning to be 8:21 pace. This makes me feel pretty good about running the marathon in October because I felt at the end of the run that if my body hadn't been chafing I could have continued for 12 more miles. It was kind of boring running for almost two hours by myself but it was a really pretty morning and the sun came out for the first time in three days which was nice.
I finished last week with 63 miles which is, as far as I know, the biggest week as far as mileage goes that I have ever done (by .5 miles). So I feel good about that because although I was a little tired this morning overall I feel pretty good. I'll be traveling this week and I think it would be a good idea to take an easier week so I imagine this week will be more in the low 50-mile range.
This morning I woke up at 6:15 and ran 7 miles at a very moderate pace, just to shake my legs out. It was highly unremarkable. The weather is returning to actually feeling like summer which I enjoy. I am planning on trying a yoga class tonight at a studio I haven't been to, just to stretch out and do a little moderate strength training.
That is all the news from the weekend! It was a great week. I'm looking forward to another one!
Posted by barb at July 26, 2004 09:26 AM